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A review by andreacaro
Once a Witch by Carolyn Maccullough
1.0
Whew, that was a fast turnaround. I read about 22 pages in and I was like naaaah, but let me tell you why:
I love witches, okay. All a witch book has to do is the bare minimum and I'll overrate it, simply because there just aren't good witch books out there. And this book, at least starting off, is one of those not-so-good ones.
Tamsin was supposed to be a special snowflake in her witchy family - like, the most powerful of her generation. Imagine her disappointment when she grows up to be an old regular Joe. I guess it makes sense that she's bitter and jealous, but it doesn't really make for a likable character. Maybe it's a sign of my age, but I find it hard to empathize with sad, emo teenagers that hate everyone because stuff didn't go there way.
Anyway, Tamsin is working in her family's bookshop and a customer comes in and asks her to do some magic she's incapable of, so naturally she agrees instead of informing the customer one of her actually powered relatives has got to do the job. Silly, but I can rock with this.
The big no-no for me was on pages 32-33. Tamsin comes home and there's a party going on for her sister who she's jealous of and she decides she wants to take out her jealousy and anger on a little kid. Yes, said kid in question has stolen a teddy bear from another kid and is playing keepaway. Mean, but remember these kids are toddler-age and like, 5. So what does Tamsin do? Not take the bear and return it, she literally beats the kid over the head with it. And when the kid, reasonably miffed, calls her out on being jealous that she's powerless, she literally yanks the bear back from the toddler and starts beating the kid with it. I guess I have a hairline trigger because this same kind of violence toward children made me hate (spoilers for Shatter Me). Peppered all throughout the scene are words like "snarl", etc. Which made Tamsin seem like a friggin nut job. I knew then there was zero way I could ever root for her character.
So anyways, that's when I put the book down. Because life is too short to read books that make you mad. SMH this what I get for trying to read a book blurbed by Cassandra Clare.
I love witches, okay. All a witch book has to do is the bare minimum and I'll overrate it, simply because there just aren't good witch books out there. And this book, at least starting off, is one of those not-so-good ones.
Tamsin was supposed to be a special snowflake in her witchy family - like, the most powerful of her generation. Imagine her disappointment when she grows up to be an old regular Joe. I guess it makes sense that she's bitter and jealous, but it doesn't really make for a likable character. Maybe it's a sign of my age, but I find it hard to empathize with sad, emo teenagers that hate everyone because stuff didn't go there way.
Anyway, Tamsin is working in her family's bookshop and a customer comes in and asks her to do some magic she's incapable of, so naturally she agrees instead of informing the customer one of her actually powered relatives has got to do the job. Silly, but I can rock with this.
The big no-no for me was on pages 32-33. Tamsin comes home and there's a party going on for her sister who she's jealous of and she decides she wants to take out her jealousy and anger on a little kid. Yes, said kid in question has stolen a teddy bear from another kid and is playing keepaway. Mean, but remember these kids are toddler-age and like, 5. So what does Tamsin do? Not take the bear and return it, she literally beats the kid over the head with it. And when the kid, reasonably miffed, calls her out on being jealous that she's powerless, she literally yanks the bear back from the toddler and starts beating the kid with it. I guess I have a hairline trigger because this same kind of violence toward children made me hate
Spoiler
Shatter Me because Warner is supposed to be super great and people love this dude even though he made Juliette hurt a kid, y'all a messSo anyways, that's when I put the book down. Because life is too short to read books that make you mad. SMH this what I get for trying to read a book blurbed by Cassandra Clare.